It's been a long time without a REAL discussion in the Competitive Alcove, so I decided to start a brand new one today. I'll probably be doing something similar to this once a week to increase forum activity, so look out for them.The subject of today's discussion will be...

BRELOOM

BRELOOM'S ABILITIES [Dream World ability in Italics]:

Effect SporeThe opponent has a 10% chance of being induced by PARALYZE, POISON, or SLEEP when using an attack, that requires physical contact, against this Pokémon.

---Poison Heal12.5% of HP is restored every turn while the Pokémon has POISON condition.

Talk about its pros and cons. Express your thoughts on the Mushroom Pokemon.

--------------------Movesets used in competitive battling:

Sub-Punch@Breloom @ Toxic OrbTrait: Poison HealEVs: 12 HP / 244 Atk / 252 SpeAdamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)- Spore- Substitute- Focus Punch- Seed Bomb / Stone Edge / FacadeThis set is a more offensively-oriented one. Spore automatically puts an opposing Pokemon to sleep for the rest of the game, or it will let Breloom set up a Substitute and start rampaging through unprepared teams. Sub-Punch is an infamous combo that isn't used as much in this gen, but it should still be a force reckoned with. Focus Punch reaches a Base Power of 225 with STAB, and will be hitting extremely hard. The Substitute allows you to take a hit, then retaliate with Focus Punch without flinching yourself by the latter. The 4th slot contains 3 different moves that are chosen based on preference. Seed Bomb is a reliable STAB move that still hits rather hard at a Base Power of 120. Stone Edge grants additional coverage, allowing you to take care of Flying types that would resist Focus Punch, and be problematic otherwise. It also lets you hit Harsha's favorite Pokemon, Salamence Dragonite, as well as hitting Tornadus. The Substitute comes up very handy, because it will give you a turn to hit something, after the Sub is broken. As I often say, the EVs maximize Attack and Speed, to ease Breloom's role as a physical sweeper. The 12 EVs placed in HP allow you to get to a numerical stat divisible by 8, which allows you to maximize Poison Heal's recovery.

This set focuses on Breloom's underrated bulk and its access to a 12.5% HP recovery after each turn to drain the opponent's health. Leech Seed is a move that damages the opponent, whilst increasing Breloom's own health. The total recovery per turn for these moves is higher than the HP sacrificed to use a Substitute, which means you can stall stuff Vaporeon forever. Spore even helps you do that, as it puts your opponent to sleep. Focus Punch goes in the last slot to hit something hard if you ever have a free Substitute up at the end of a turn. 236 HP maximizes Poison Heal recovery, which is important for this set to actually work. The Adamant Nature lets you hit pretty hard with a STAB Focus Punch. Toxic Orb is the obvious choice for the held item.

This set may look weird, but it's the most common Breloom set you will see in OU nowadays. Uncovered by Smogon moderator Blue Star, this set focuses on boosting Attack and Defense, whilst maximizing Breloom's decent defenses, which are aided by Poison Heal recovery. Rick loves this set, so he might add more here. Spore puts an opponent to sleep for the rest of the match. The opponent can stay in, though, whilst Breloom starts setting some Bulk Ups. When the opponent wakes up, well, Breloom uses Spore again. Cool, no? Seed Bomb is a reliable STAB that lets you hit Quagsire, Gastrodon and Jellicent. Drain Punch hits pretty hard with the attack boosts, whilst providing Breloom another form of recovery.

Breloom sure has many assets! It does have its weaknesses, though. Grass and Fighting type STABs are far from providing perfect coverage, as stuff like Dragonite and Celebi have a field of a day against it. However, Breloom has many tricks up its sleeve, and should never be underestimated. Well, thank you, and have a nice discussion!

Manaphy72 wrote:Great post! I honestly love the pokemon Breloom! But I have nothing to say but I love breloom and I use it in my team!

Thanks. However, this post brings nothing to the table in terms of discussing Breloom. I mean, look at the text in BOLD.For the flow of the discussion, if you are going to be posting in this thread, please say something relevant to the competitive discussion of Breloom, and not post something similar to the 1st post. Thanks!

Last edited by Kira Light on Fri Mar 09, 2012 12:41 pm; edited 1 time in total

I have yet to try Breloom. It looks like a gimmicky pokemon, which is OK - but I don't normally do OU gimmicks.

When playing against Breloom, I normally sacrifice the pokemon that is of least use to me at that point in the game, then abuse the Sleep Clause to make sure that they cannot use Breloom properly. I find sacrificing a pokemon is not hard, as Breloom normally comes in later on in the game, when i have pokemon that have expired their use.

I know there is anticipation of when Technician is released, as many think a Techniloom would be a powerful choice in OU.

I have seen Breloom used against me, SEVERAL times. To be honest, it's a good pokemon with amazing speed and power, but I have a strong hatred towards it. No doubt it's power is something to be feared but it does get beaten to the punch if spore misses or is out-sped by pokemon who either use a Choice Scarf, or out-speed it with max (boosted or not [my focus is on Alakazam with boosted speed]). And flying type moves (although not very common in OU) do (I believe) x4 damage to it since its typing is both Grass and Fighting. Either way, Breloom is a decent enough Pokemon to use for strong attacks and crippling any Pokemon without Magic Guard (I believe).

Then Zam is void, but try a snow cloaked Mamoswine. Most everyone on TH has fallen victim to it. Even with 100% acc, ice shard+Snow Cloak will stop it in its tracks. Thanks for the reminder about its acc though.

[SH]Chaos Wolf wrote:Then Zam is void, but try a snow cloaked Mamoswine. Most everyone on TH has fallen victim to it. Even with 100% acc, ice shard+Snow Cloak will stop it in its tracks. Thanks for the reminder about its acc though.

I have yet to fall victim to Snow Cloak Mamoswine. Your argument is invalid.

[POSSIBLE PLACEHOLDER FOR ON TOPIC-NESS, BUT YOU KNOW HOW I AM ABOUT KEEPING THESE PROMISES.]

Also, who'd keep Breloom in, without sub? Even if it did have sub, it'd likely go for the Focus Punch, and not the Spore. AAANNNND, Snow Cloak somewhat rarely works.

AS, just ask Rick, Kira, and Harsha (with some odd others. I DID say most not all). Given my luck with my hail team, it works 8/10 of the times, and normally Mamo is switched in (from other pokemon defeated).

Yep. Because I missed with Leech Seed three straight times and Fire Blast once, as well as a Roar. That was simply ridiculous, and you cannot count on miss hax to reliably beat a Pokemon. Mamoswine cannot reliably revenge kill a Breloom with Defense boosts, so it's not even a check at best.